NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the author of The Power of
Habit comes a fascinating book that explores the science of
productivity, and why, in today’s world, managing how you
think—rather than what you think—can transform your life.

At the core of Smarter Faster Better are eight key
concepts—from motivation and goal setting to focus and
decision making—that explain why some people and companies
get so much done. Drawing on the latest findings in
neuroscience, psychology, and behavioral economics—as well
as the experiences of CEOs, educational reformers, four-star
generals, FBI agents, airplane pilots, and Broadway
songwriters—this painstakingly researched book explains that
the most productive people, companies, and organizations
don’t merely act differently.

They view the world, and their choices, in profoundly
different ways.

A young woman drops out of a PhD program and starts playing
poker. By training herself to envision contradictory
futures, she learns to anticipate her opponents’
missteps—and becomes one of the most successful players in
the world.

A group of data scientists at Google embark on a four-year
study of how the best teams function, and find that how a
group interacts is more important than who is in the group—a
principle, it turns out, that also helps explain why
Saturday Night Live became a hit.

A Marine Corps general, faced with low morale among
recruits, re-imagines boot camp—and discovers that
instilling a “bias toward action” can turn even the most
directionless teenagers into self-motivating achievers.

The filmmakers behind Disney’s Frozen are nearly out of time
and on the brink of catastrophe—until they shake up their
team in just the right way, spurring a creative breakthrough
that leads to one of the highest-grossing movies of all time.

What do these people have in common?

They know that productivity relies on making certain
choices. The way we frame our daily decisions; the big
ambitions we embrace and the easy goals we ignore; the
cultures we establish as leaders to drive innovation; the
way we interact with data: These are the things that
separate the merely busy from the genuinely productive.

In The Power of Habit, Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist
Charles Duhigg explained why we do what we do. In Smarter
Faster Better, he applies the same relentless curiosity,
deep reporting, and rich storytelling to explain how we can
improve at the things we do. It’s a groundbreaking
exploration of the science of productivity, one that can
help anyone learn to succeed with less stress and struggle,
and to get more done without sacrificing what we care about
most—to become smarter, faster, and better at everything we do.